


Love Language

by jaguarspot



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M, The Buckley Siblings, being extra, minor bobby nash - Freeform, minor hen wilson, no beta we die like the old man who liked to draw at the pier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 02:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30132831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaguarspot/pseuds/jaguarspot
Summary: Maddie and Buck pick up a new hobby while getting ready to welcome Maddie's baby into the family.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 16
Kudos: 80
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Love Language

**Author's Note:**

> no covid in this, so Maddie had a normal pregnancy. In this she's like 4 months pregnant.
> 
> Also, sorry there's no Eddie, i didnt realize i forgot to write him in until i was posting the fic
> 
> written because it bothers me that only latino families get any acknowledgment of them being multicultural families

Bobby and Hen walk out of Bobby’s office, having just finished smoothing out Hen’s schedule so she could work around her latest stage of medical school. Their shift had ended a few minutes ago, so they were surprised to walk into the loft and see Maddie and Buck seating on the couch, a few books around them and a laptop on Buck’s lap that both were looking at. Maddie was holding a notebook, and the siblings were listening to an audio clip that Hen and Bobby couldn’t make out from where they were.

Exchanging a look, Bobby and Hen walked over to the couch just as the clip ended and Maddie shifted her notebook to point something out to Buck. 

“See? I told you the stress was on the first part of the word.”

Buck was shaking his head, “no, I’m telling you, it’s achimBAB, not Achimbab.”

“No, look, play it again-”

“What are you guys doing?” asked Hen.

“Studying” says Buck absently as he plays the clip again, a single word from what looked like google translate.

“Oh,” said Maddie, writing something on her notebook, “no, you’re right,” she tells Buck.

“Studying for what?” asks Bobby, once it’s obvious neither sibling is going to elaborate.

“We’re learning Korean” Maddie says as she puts down her notebook and starts leafing through one of the books.

Hen raises an eyebrow and glances up at Bobby, who looks as confused as she feels. “And why are you learning Korean?”

This seems to finally get both Buckleys’ attention, as they put down what each of them is reading and look up at Hen.

“Uh,” now Maddie looks as confused as them. A quick glance shows Buck is no better. “I’m pregnant?”

Well. That clarified pretty much nothing.

“Yeah, you told us last month. Congratulations again. What does that have to do with learning Korean?” asked Hen dubiously.

“I’m gonna be the best uncle ever!” Buck says, beaming.

Maddie smiles fondly at him even as she rolls her eyes. “I figured I should get a head start on learning while the baby isn’t here yet, and asked Buck for bookstore recommendations to get language books. Turned out he had the same idea and we’d already both bought some of the same books, so we returned his copies and Buck got a few children’s books instead, and we figured we’d learn together.” She points to some of the books on a pile next to the couch, and the one at the top of the pile shows a couple of cartoon rabbits and a title in Korean. Now that they’re paying attention, Bobby and Hen can see that almost all the books look like little kid books, all in Korean.

Hen is starting to catch on. “Are you learning Korean for Chimney?”

“No.” said Maddie. Then she seemed to hesitate, “well, yes and no I guess. We’re really learning for Mango here,” she said as she put her hand on her stomach, which was just starting to show the smallest of baby bumps.

Buck nodded and picked up where she left off, “Chimney’s first language is Korean. So is Albert’s, and the Lee’s, the kid’s grandparents. The kid’s going to be Korean too, so we just figured Chim and Albert would teach them the language.”

Maddie nodded, “I haven't actually talked to Howie yet, that’s part of what I was hoping to do today, but the baby’s not just mine, it’s his too, and he´s Korean. And I want to be part of  _ every _ part of my baby and Howie’s lives.”

Hen and Bobby were a little taken aback. They'd never even considered how Chim's heritage would affect his kid. Trust the Buckleys to have not only thought about it, but also decided to learn an entire new language because of it.

Everyone's heads turned when they heard footsteps approaching. Chimney was coming up the stairs, his hair wet showing he'd just gotten out of the station showers, and already in civilian clothes.

“Hey Chim! How do you pronounce this?” Buck asks, holding up one of the picture books and pointing out a word.

Chim looked confused but read the word out loud. Then he looked around at all the books and asked “why does it look like you two broke into a Korean preschool?”

“We’re learning Korean because we assumed the Han-Buckley family will live in a bilingual household” Buck says, ignoring Hen’s muttered “why does HE get a straight answer.”

Chim goes still and quiet, and Maddie bites her lip and says “but maybe we shouldn’t have assumed? I just, I heard you and Albert the other day, when he forgot the word for subway in english and you both spent the next few minutes speaking Korean. I figured you were going to teach Mango Korean, and I wanted to learn too.”

Before Chimney can figure out what to say to that, Buck adds “and I live with Albert, and that guy can’t speak any English before 9 am, or after the third beer, so I’d already picked up a few words.”

That surprises a chuckle out of Chimney.

Maddie smiles a little and waves at some of the books, “We didn’t know if you may have any books or any stories from when you were a kid. If you do and we bought something you already had we can just return ours to the store and get something else.”

Maddie’s smile drops when she sees Chim’s eyes fill with tears. “Howie? Are you-”

“I’m fine, I’m okay,” he says wiping up a small tear and smiling at her, “I just love you so much.”

Maddie smiles back and hugs him. He hugs her back before pulling away and looking around at all the books scattered everywhere again.

“Is this too much?” asked Buck.

Chim chuckles. “Maybe not too much, just uh, Buckley levels of enthusiasm.”

Everyone smiles at that, but it looks like Chim isn’t done talking when he wipes another tear and takes a shaky breath.

“It’s just. I came to America at five years old. But before that I grew up with Korean fairy tales, Korean lullabies, Korean turns of phrase. I- my childhood was in Korean, I just. All those parenting books and I hadn’t quite stopped to think about that part of raising my kid. You know, I don’t even know if I know any lullabies in English…” he trails off.

“That’s what we’re here for!” exclaims Buck with a smile.

Chimney looks at Buck, and all the books he bought just for this. Then he looks at Bobby and Hen, who are off to the side and giving all of them bright smiles. Finally, he looks at Maddie. Maddie who is four months pregnant with his child and decided to learn his language without prompting. Maddie who never says she loves him, but shows him every single day how much she does. Maddie who is the most wonderful person he’s ever met. 

Chimney looks around the room and realizes he’s with his family, and he’s loved, and he’s home. 


End file.
